In a letter from President Schapiro:
Other changes include:
-All-grant financial aid packages.
-A cap on loan indebtedness for current students.
-Increased financial aid for undocumented
-Increased financial support for undergraduate research experiences, unpaid internships and study abroad.
-Replacement of lost MAP funding. The Illinois Monetary Award Program (MAP), which provides tuition grants for low- and middle-income students, is not currently funded due to the lack of a state budget.
-Increased stipends for graduate students.
-Increased financial aid for international students.
-Increased financial assistance for law school students and young alumni.
-Increased emphasis on financial aid for medical students.
-Increasing scholarships for business students.
Of course the good stuff comes the year after I enter lol!
I think they’re changing it for current students aswell.
@Ksty1098 I was talking about the all grant financial aid packages. That seems pretty sweet.
One thing I think they should employ, and really all schools should do this is make it so that you pay the same amount all four years. It’s not fair if you can afford your freshman year and then a few years later, find out you cannot afford your senior year.
It’s no secret that college costs usually increase each year. If affordability is a factor in picking a school (and for most people it probably is), it’s not very difficult to factor in a yearly increase over the next four years based on recent increases for whatever school is being considered.
@CaliCash Tuition increases are usually constant at 3-5% per year, so students should be planning for about 4.2 to 4.3 times their freshman-year tuition as a 4-year estimate.
If that was announced a couple years ago, my D would have a really tough decision.
Northwestern meets full need. If the costs go UP and your incime and assets don’t go up…your need based aid will increase.
Competing with the Ivies and top NESCAC packages now.
Obviously it’s no secret for people who spend their free time on a college admissions website lol. But for the general public, I wouldn’t say it’s common knowledge.
@thumper1 Okay let’s make it a bit more general. Let’s take ABC University. We have a family that is full pay, but isn’t comfortably full pay. What about them?
@billcsho Why?
Wonder where the funding coming from? I know that other schools have announced similar intentions, and said merit awards would be decreased (e.g., Grinnell). But, NW doesn’t play that game, so I’m curious. I mean, I would assume tuition increases or more full-pays. Just wondering if they have announced any cuts anywhere.
The university meets need, so this is not an issue.
If the tuition hike qualifies them for some aid, then they will get it if they apply for it. A family’s EFC is the same regardless of tuition hikes. If they still don’t qualify for aid after a tuition increase, they would have to take out bigger loans. I would say that it is common knowledge that prices go up. I don’t think that the common knowledge is limited to people who read CC. Other goods and services go up in price too, and those families have to adjust to those price increases too.
Well, I think you’re wrong. As brantly points out above, most people, even those who don’t read this forum, understand that prices usually go up.
https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/northwestern is Northwestern’s NPC.
It says the following net prices for a two parent family with one kid (the one in college) and only W-2 income (each parent earning half) and no assets or student income or assets:
$20,000 income: $4,935 (including $2,500 student work)
$60,000 income: $9,735 (including $2,500 student work)
$100,000 income: $28,260 (including $6,700 + $2,500 student loan + work)
$140,000 income: $38,410 (including $5,500 + $2,500 student loan + work)
$180,000 income: $47,610 (including $3,500 + $2,500 student loan + work)
$220,000 income: $58,410 (including $3,500 + $2,500 student loan + work)
Presumably, this does not reflect the new changes, since loans are included for some students. It would be interesting to compare with the NPC results after the new changes are put in.
@Calicash My D was accepted by McCormick a couple years ago and there were several thousand dollars in loan and workstudy in her FA package beside EFC. While UMich CoE offered scholarships and grant without loan or workstudy in her FA package with a similar EFC. The total cost difference for 4 years was ~$30k (in loan and workstudy). So it was not difficult to make the decision.
@billcsho Ooh okay. Thanks for sharing!
One thing I really appreciate about this expanded aid is that international students aren’t being used as money trees as much as before.
Then…they perhaps chose the wrong college if the finances are that stretched. It’s no secret that college costs go up every year at most school.